BROWNSVILLE, Texas - A citizen of Nepal has been found guilty of four counts of failing to comply with his order of deportation, United States Attorney José Angel Moreno announced today. The jury’s verdict, accepted by presiding United States District Judge Hilda G. Tagle, was returned on Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2011.

Om Prakash Budha, 28, a citizen Nepal who entered the United States without authorization, was apprehended by Border Patrol agents near Brownsville on Oct. 6, 2010. On Nov. 4, 2010, a United States Immigration Judge ordered Budha removed from the United States. On four separate occasions during a four-month period, Budha steadfastly refused to complete an application for a Nepali passport. His refusals were an attempt to thwart his deportation.

Budha’s refusals - on Nov. 18, 2010, Dec. 16, 2010, Jan. 18, 2011, and Feb. 14, 2011 - constitute a violation of federal law and resulted in the return of a criminal indictment in April 2011 and a superseding indictment in July 2011. Budha was transferred from administrative immigration custody into the custody of the United States Marshals Service in February 2011. He will remain in custody without bond pending sentencing.

Judge Tagle has set sentencing for Nov. 11, 2011. Budha faces a maximum of four years in federal prison without parole on each of the four counts of conviction as well a fine of $250,000 for refusing to comply with the deportation order.

The case was brought to the United States Attorney’s Office by Deportation Officers of the Port Isabel Detention Center in Los Fresnos, Texas. Special Assistant United States Attorney Stuart Alcorn and Assistant U. S. Attorney Karen Betancourt tried the case.